Hi there, I'm a light mech specialist piloting commandos mostly (got my hands on Loci with the advent of the phoenix package), and I am tired of people bashing the Locust without ever setting foot into it's cockpit or understanding how the mech plays.

So I've decided to write a short section for each of the variants (I admit that I suck with the 3S and can not use it to it's full potential) explaining how it functions and it's strengths and weaknesses.

Boom and Zoom is an important tactic with all three mechs, I should say with all lights, but because of the low armor and high speed on the locust, it is paramount

If you are unfamiliar with BnZ

Spoiler

It's a tactic where you approach an enemy at incredible speeds, preferably from a blind angle and launch an attack at them before disappearing into the chaos. You can use it to land crippling or lethal blows to the enemy.

This light mech works in a very different style from most others. You're not supposed to engage the enemy and dance around in fight. The tactic you will use is that of a vulture, and very similar to Boom and Zoom.

First one needs to understand the mechanics of the weaponry, the MGs are not designed for high damage output (I have had 500 damage games with this thing early on, by sheer luck) they are designed for extreme kill potential.

Other than my BLR-1S this mech usually has my highest kill count in a match (not counting the COM-2D since I've had that for pretty much a year) that's what the 1V is designed for, quick elimination of wounded enemies.

Your ML is for fending for yourself and poking at things up to 540 meters. It can also help when peeling armor from enemies, especially unwary ones.

You are to hide somewhere away from the main fight, wait by the side lines and scan the battlefield read out, until you identify a target that has an exposed part with no armor. If you deem it worthy ( a big mech dealing/tanking lots of damage) Dive into the carnage as fast as possible. Your high speed is your advantage here and use your 4 machine guns to saw off that limb or CT, either crippling or killing the opponent out right.

Then disappear into another corner behind your team. Rinse Repeat.

I once had a match where I dealt 80 damage total, but had 5 kills and 7 assissts, and about 15 component destructions. My team, and especially my lance, loved me. I spared them from having to chase that wounded mech and take a few extra hits to get the kill shot. Instead they send me as the garbage disposal guy. I pop up and kill the stragglers and runaways.
In a pug you might get yelled at for KSing, but what matters is that your team wins.

That style of crazy Drive by has won me quite a few matches with this tiny terror. Never underestimate it's potential. It is kind of hilarious when you realize that a 20 ton mech dropped a 85, 70, 65, and 60 ton mechs in one match, as far as weight trades go that is a great one, and that's what this mech is capable of.

As you can see from the build, I have 3 tons of ammo, in case you are in a formation or situation where you will require extended forays into the battle royale.

LCT-3M:

Spoiler

The little rascal or the nightmare depending on who you ask and which build I used.
Builds:

Alpha:
This build is designed for high damage and relentless assault against the enemy. With this build I would expect to see the locust in the middle of the fighting more often. Rely on your insane speed and small size to protect you. Always be surgical with those SPLs. Their rate of fire will allow for great damage, especially when set to chain fire.

Your job is going to be to scout, chase off lights and engage the enemy turning any 1v1 into a 2v1 (or 3 if you're moving fast enough to psych them out)

You can replace the SPLs for MLs for more range, I find that my speed brings me immediately into the face of the enemy where my rapid firing SPLs are more beneficial.

Bravo:
This set up is designed more for escort duty, you will not run into it outside of 12 mans very often.

2 of these running in a semicircular pattern around your team's precious assaults will guarantee that they will receive minimal damage (or none if the assaults had AMS too) that's 4AMSs working on 2 mechs only, if these 3Ms do nothing the whole match but deplete all their AMS ammo, they've already paid for their weight and cash and then some. The medium lasers are there to deter other lights, and to help in engagements.

Also, if you're engaging properly, even a 4SSRM mech is gonna have a hard time dealing with you (each AMS shoots 2 missiles per second, that's 4missiles per second with 2 AMSs.)

that's my 3M, also nicknamed "the mini jenner" because it carries just as much firepower, if not more than the "F", at the same speed (with considerably less armor though)

LCT-3S:

Spoiler

The bane of my existence, I have not had a mech p**s me off or frustrate me as much as the 3S.
That is more to do with my particular play style and not the mech. As I have a friend in the same corp as me who swears by them, and I have seen him deal insane amounts of damage with it.

The main downside is that your only armament is missiles, and you WILL run out of them pretty fast.

There are several builds to try with this variant. I prefer these three:
4SRM2s, 2SRM2s (more ammo), 3SSRMs with no BAP. Use a small/ML laser with all of these.

I wish I can say more about this chasis, but I honestly did not stick with it past getting all 8 basics. If anyone here would like to contribute, I would welcome it.

What I can tell you is from my observations of this friend, he prefers SRMs on his 3S with a medium laser I believe, and he plays it in a similar style to the way I play the 1V. However, he never goes anywhere without a wingman or some sort of escort, to occupy the enemy while he cracks their rear CT open.
It works really well for him and he enjoys it. I did not use it properly myself and thus will not offer more opinions/judgement on it.

i've had slightly more success with the 3S than the other 2. still working through elite on all of them though so maybe the others will catch up

1 stick with the token ER LL for the 1V and 2SPL, 2ML for the 3M- what i use for the jenner F less two guns of course- my w/l isn;t so bad - actually over 1.0 for the 3M but the worst kdr of the 3.

the 3S i started with the dual lrm 5s/ML combo but while it was amusing as soon as something got near me i was done for as even a spider outguns your 1ML at that point. so i dropped one of the LRM5s for a SRM 4 for extra protection up close and have been doing better. no huge numbers granted but i can break 150 dmg more often with this set up than either of the others. LRM til i'm out or nearly out- works better on the big maps- then swoop in at the end when stuff is beat up and go after them with the close range stuff. also offers some defense against other lights you can't outrun up close. the LRMs are useful for getting some cheap assists for a little extra xp while grinding them up so you don;t have to get close to all those one shot and you die weapons. not really a big LRM guy but for the 3S it seems the best choice for me.

plus nothing big pays the slightest attention to you if any other mech is around shooting at them. ripped apart a DDC's rear armor the other day because it was busy trying to kill the shadowhawk jumping all around it. didn't get a kill but took the arm off (thanks SRM/LRM scatter) and eventually it got killed by a Jager from behind.

plus i generally try to stick to conquest as at least you can do something speedwise and cap instead of "uh-oh i'm in skirmish with a pile of assaults". i tend not to lst long in those matches.

Personally I hate hate hate the 1V. I just can't handle machine guns my most hated weapon in the game. But the other two variants I love. It's always fun to flank behind the enemy line and rip off the rear armor of an enemy assault. The 3S does suffer from ammo problems but I can live with it. I do like the idea of 5 SPL on the 3M I never try it due to range though (I use the 5 medium laser version). I'll try it out since I like to stab the enemy in the back I'll see how it works out.

So I've decided to write a short section for each of the variants (I admit that I suck with the 3S and can not use it to it's full potential) explaining how it functions and it's strengths and weaknesses.

Boom and Zoom is an important tactic with all three mechs, I should say with all lights, but because of the low armor and high speed on the locust, it is paramount

If you are unfamiliar with BnZ

Spoiler

It's a tactic where you approach an enemy at incredible speeds, preferably from a blind angle and launch an attack at them before disappearing into the chaos. You can use it to land crippling or lethal blows to the enemy.

Let's not mix up terms. BnZ is energy/momentum fighting, only applicable to fighter planes, where you use your height advantage to make passes on the enemy and climbing away thus minimising the chance to get shot. You are looking for the word skirmish or hit and run.

As Armsro said before the heatsink requirements kills this mech, but i really like to try it since it looks like a funky little machine. Now i only need an XL190.

If i recall corecctly it can completely submerge in the water on river city map.
Look at it! It's awesome!

Let's not mix up terms. BnZ is energy/momentum fighting, only applicable to fighter planes, where you use your height advantage to make passes on the enemy and climbing away thus minimising the chance to get shot. You are looking for the word skirmish or hit and run.

As Armsro said before the heatsink requirements kills this mech, but i really like to try it since it looks like a funky little machine. Now i only need an XL190.

If i recall corecctly it can completely submerge in the water on river city map.
Look at it! It's awesome!

Yes, you are correct on the term, but as far as mechs go, I think BNZ works better than skirmisher because Skirmisher implies hitting the enemy in brief engagements without getting into the fray. Which is not the case here, as you need to dive through the brawl to kill your target and get out quickly. It's definitely more of an assassin though.

Also, yes, I have submerged it fully multiple times, and it is awesome! I would recommend you give it a shot, it is the cheapest mech in the game I believe.

The problem with the Locust is that it has tissue paper armor. Until some type of tonnage limited matches is implemented it will be bad.

I've played Locusts. I've killed Locusts. They just don't stand up in a fight. Hit and run will only get your team so far. You just can't be as helpful to your team in any role with the Locust as you can with another mech.

The minute you take a Locust against pilots with a good aim, fast streak mediums, or other competent lights you are going to get torn up badly.

I agree that they have a hard time competing right now, until dropship mode is implemented they are going to have a hard time, however, they are not the utter pieces of **** that people claim them to be. That's the main thrust of this thread.

Yeah, it's not awful if you're a good light pilot, but it's still the worst mech in the game right now. There's never a situation where you say "Man, I really wish I was in a Locust right now rather than this Jenner/Raven/Spider/Commando" because every variant of the Locust is basically a flat out downgrade from some other light mech's build. ****, the Commando's a bit on the weak side but it does have a few good builds (and can run ever so slightly faster).

It'd be one thing if there was some huge advantage to pure speed, but even then, Commandos are faster and there's not much of a point in going faster than 150km/h. Even Ravens and Jenners pull that off. Speed can only do so much for survivability, a 170km/h mech isn't significantly harder to hit than a 150km/h one, and a lack of jumpjets means that Locusts can't even claim 'most maneuverable' as their niche.

I'd say that tonnage requirements might help the little thing, but honestly, even then I really doubt it, unless they removed the hard cap on player limits, especially since none of the Locusts have ECM which further hinders them in performing the duties of a light mech. There's never a situation where you'd really love saving the 5 tons verses an ECM commando or even the 10 verses an ECM spider, because the lack of ECM combined with the other flaws (low firepower, low durability, not fast enough to make up for it) results in a FAR larger performance gap between the Locust and the Commando than there is between say, a Jagermech and a Cataphract, or a Highlander and an Atlas.

I'm all for playing unconventional and underrated mechs, but the Locust is just flat out irredeemably bad right now.

There's never a situation where you say "Man, I really wish I was in a Locust right now rather than this Jenner/Raven/Spider/Commando"

Actually there is, but that has much more to do with psychology than stats.
The "stronger" the mech the more aggressive I tend to be - frequently to the detriment of my playskill.
Also: the "weaker" the mech, the more likely it is to be ignored - and (esp as any mech can die so quickly) there is no threat bigger than the one ignored.

Actually there is, but that has much more to do with psychology than stats.
The "stronger" the mech the more aggressive I tend to be - frequently to the detriment of my playskill.
Also: the "weaker" the mech, the more likely it is to be ignored - and (esp as any mech can die so quickly) there is no threat bigger than the one ignored.

that can actually go either way at times though. some people may see a weak mech and go after the tougher one, others may say "may as well kill it now so i can concentrate on the big threat undisturbed. shouldn;t take long."

that can actually go either way at times though. some people may see a weak mech and go after the tougher one, others may say "may as well kill it now so i can concentrate on the big threat undisturbed. shouldn;t take long."

True dat.

Near as I can tell I get a lot more of the kind that chooses to ignore me though.

Locusts. Locusts.Loci are an entirely different things - but at least, unlike "Atlai," it's at least a word.

Israel pretty much explained the problem with the Locust. The only thing it can do better than any other light is boat streaks - and if that Jenner or Raven shows some spine instead of running from you, he should still win the slug-a-war. Don't get me wrong- I love the Locust's speed and maneuverability - it's not just run speed, it's turning rate. I was chasing some poor Jenner with my Streaks the other day, and just ran over the top of a hill he had to climb with jump jets. That part of piloting the Locust is awesome.

What's not awesome is the credible risk of crippling and destruction every time you are shot at. Every jump-sniping poptart in the game can kill you with one hit. A dakka 'mech with a low-deflection shot (not moving side to side much in his field of view) can murder you in seconds. Many brawlers can kill you with one hit. Even a laser boat can kill you from behind if you slip up - or just get unlucky. And every time you get one-shot by a 35-point pinpoint alpha to the front armor, you have to think to yourself, "You know, my Jenner could have survived that."